Favourite Indigenous Knives?

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Long before Sak's and MT's entered my life I had a passion for large indigenous knives of the type our ancestor's would have used in there day to day life's, infact a knife was life to these early folk

Out of all the designs I've had and used...Golok's, Leuku's, Parang's, Billhook's, Bolos, and you typical Machette, by far and away my favourite is the not so humble Kukri

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri

It can clear vegetation every bit as well as a machette/parang, but unlike them it can be used for really heavy work like shelter construction, tree felling and splitting of large hard woods for fire baton's, and to me it has all the power of an axe, but greater flexibility too, like use as a draw knife

Here's my pride and joy with a few of it's 'little' friends


In use...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTbuG--UKOQ&feature=related

So what's your favourite indigenous knife design

[ringzero]

Out of all the designs I've had and used...Golok's, Leuku's, Parang's, Billhook's, Bolos, and you typical Machette, by far and away my favourite is the not so humble Kukri
...
So what's your favourite indigenous knife design

Haven't had your wide experience with indigenous blades.

I haven't used Goloks, Leukus, Parangs, Billhooks, or Bolos to accomplish any work outdoors.

I have used Kukris and Machettes and feel both have a place in the great outdoors - depends on the task to be accomplished.

My conclusions:
-Kukris are good for clearing heavy brush and decent for chopping.
-Machettes are good for clearing the lighter stuff and OK for lighter chopping.

I have a couple of Kukris that I used to take along camping and hiking.  I do like their chopping ability, but rarely carry them anymore.  For about the same weight, I'd rather take along a light hand axe.

The term Machette covers such a large variety of styles and weights of blades...  If I did a lot of camping down South, I'd probably use machettes a lot more.

.
   

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Thanks for the reply mate

[I'm Still Bison]

My experience has been limited to  a khukri,and a bolo that my great-uncle brought back from the Philippines after WW II.I wouldn't want to confront a determined person that was trained and experienced with a bolo.

[crls1]

i have only handled machetes, and when properly sharpened (in my limited experience, convex sharpening is the best for these tools), they are very capable for medium-hard chopping. Actualy, my outdoors companion is a 14" tramontina machete, and besides it's small size, i've been able to chop pieces of wood of about 4" in thickness.

Carlos

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

My experience has been limited to  a khukri,and a bolo that my great-uncle brought back from the Philippines after WW II.I wouldn't want to confront a determined person that was trained and experienced with a bolo.

Bolo's can be very fast in the hand can't they

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

i have only handled machetes, and when properly sharpened (in my limited experience, convex sharpening is the best for these tools), they are very capable for medium-hard chopping. Actualy, my outdoors companion is a 14" tramontina machete, and besides it's small size, i've been able to chop pieces of wood of about 4" in thickness.

Carlos

Yeah convex is the way to go if you want the edge to hold up to some serious use

[I'm Still Bison]

My experience has been limited to  a khukri,and a bolo that my great-uncle brought back from the Philippines after WW II.I wouldn't want to confront a determined person that was trained and experienced with a bolo.

Bolo's can be very fast in the hand can't they

              If I remember my history correctly;the bolo in the hands of Moro warriors running amok,provided the impetus for the development and adoption of the .45 ACP by the US military.The .38 caliber that was issued at the time was virtually ineffective.
                   The closest parallel for a Moro amok were the Viking Berserkers.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

My experience has been limited to  a khukri,and a bolo that my great-uncle brought back from the Philippines after WW II.I wouldn't want to confront a determined person that was trained and experienced with a bolo.

Bolo's can be very fast in the hand can't they

              If I remember my history correctly;the bolo in the hands of Moro warriors running amok,provided the impetus for the development and adoption of the .45 ACP by the US military.The .38 caliber that was issued at the time was virtually ineffective.
                   The closest parallel for a Moro amok were the Viking Berserkers.

Thats what i read too, plus the tribesman in questuion were high as a kite on the local wacky backy too , we had a similar problem in some of our colonial conflict's with drugged up tribesmen, and only a large calibre round proved effective

As for Viking's, I have Norse blood on my paternal side

[Tarrodemierda]

hey i have too from my dads sode of bloodline,danish ancestors.
hey what u do think of our traditional large blades,"leuku´s".
i like em,u dont need anythin else in woods than some MT and leuku,to fix things,to make firewoods and so on.
some off the tourist leukus are redicilously big,and real lappland folk dont use em at all.
i have also one cold steel kukri and british small machete.

http://www.military-kit.co.uk/images/new_british_army_machete.jpg

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

hey i have too from my dads sode of bloodline,danish ancestors.
hey what u do think of our traditional large blades,"leuku´s".
i like em,u dont need anythin else in woods than some MT and leuku,to fix things,to make firewoods and so on.
some off the tourist leukus are redicilously big,and real lappland folk dont use em at all.
i have also one cold steel kukri and british small machete.

http://www.military-kit.co.uk/images/new_british_army_machete.jpg

I love Leuku's, there about the only Scandi grind knife that makes sence , there batoning performance is awesome , I really want another one, I'm just a bit too broke at the moment

The British Machete is a Golok mate

[Tarrodemierda]

"there about the only Scandi grind knife that makes sence"...watch your mouth punk

what makes u say so ?

are those leukus expensive then there overseas?

what kind of leulu are u intrested in?


i thought that i could call it Golok but hesitated.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

"there about the only Scandi grind knife that makes sence"...watch your mouth punk

what makes u say so ?

are those leukus expensive then there overseas?

what kind of leulu are u intrested in?


i thought that i could call it Golok but hesitated.

I'm just not a fan of scandi grinds, there just to dedicated an edge , there fine if you wana work with wood, but completly crap at other camp tasks like slicing food , but on a heavy duty knife like a Lueku they make perfect sence

Lueku's aren't that expensive over here, but sadly divorces are

I like the Helle a Brusletto ones best

[I'm Still Bison]

My experience has been limited to  a khukri,and a bolo that my great-uncle brought back from the Philippines after WW II.I wouldn't want to confront a determined person that was trained and experienced with a bolo.

Bolo's can be very fast in the hand can't they

              If I remember my history correctly;the bolo in the hands of Moro warriors running amok,provided the impetus for the development and adoption of the .45 ACP by the US military.The .38 caliber that was issued at the time was virtually ineffective.
                   The closest parallel for a Moro amok were the Viking Berserkers.

Thats what i read too, plus the tribesman in questuion were high as a kite on the local wacky backy too , we had a similar problem in some of our colonial conflict's with drugged up tribesmen, and only a large calibre round proved effective

As for Viking's, I have Norse blood on my paternal side

 With my Scots ancestry,I suspect there's some Viking in me,I do know that on one side I'm descended from Swedes,maybe Finns that were part of Sweden's attempt to colonize America back in the 17th century.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

There's bound to be mate, especially if your scotish ancestors were from eastern scotland

And no I won't get my knickers in a twist

[I'm Still Bison]

 Good to know that Latin's not a dead language. Most of my Scots were from the Western isles,especially the McClains,originally they were MacLaine of Lochbuie.

[Roadie]

Good to know that Latin's not a dead language. Most of my Scots were from the Western isles,especially the McClains,originally they were MacLaine of Lochbuie.

Lochbuie.... as in the Isle Of Mull Lochbuie?! Beautiful place (just like the rest of Mull) been there quite a bit and never tire of it

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Good to know that Latin's not a dead language. Most of my Scots were from the Western isles,especially the McClains,originally they were MacLaine of Lochbuie.

Working in a bookshop helps + reading lot's of warhammer

[I'm Still Bison]

Good to know that Latin's not a dead language. Most of my Scots were from the Western isles,especially the McClains,originally they were MacLaine of Lochbuie.

Lochbuie.... as in the Isle Of Mull Lochbuie?! Beautiful place (just like the rest of Mull) been there quite a bit and never tire of it

         That's the one. MacLaine of Lochbuie was originally a junior branch of the MacLean clan,but they didn't want to be neither junior nor a branch of anybody else,so they went their own way

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Here's some pics of some Indigenous knives, feel free to post some too guys
Parang


Leuku


Billhook


Kukri


Seax


Bolo


Golok


Skein Dhu


Like I said, please post any other's you've used or know off , I'm facinated by these thing's and am keen to learn of other designs

[Anthony]

Where would a good place be to get one of those traditional looking Kukris?  I've seen pics of them doing some serious brush clearing and taking down trees, but they look like museum peices!

I know Cold Steel makes one, but I like the look of the brass and wood handles/nice sheath/little knives

[crls1]

Where would a good place be to get one of those traditional looking Kukris?  I've seen pics of them doing some serious brush clearing and taking down trees, but they look like museum peices!

I know Cold Steel makes one, but I like the look of the brass and wood handles/nice sheath/little knives

Maybe you want to take a look here:

http://www.himalayan-imports.com/khuk1.html
https://torablades.com/shop/

Carlos

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

+1 for torablades, they do fantastic kukri's

[Tarrodemierda]

s--i,ive wonderer that whats the"billhook" u keep talkin about ,and its just one of the most used wood chopping tool here too...but we keep callin it "VESURI" 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

s--i,ive wonderer that whats the"billhook" u keep talkin about ,and its just one of the most used wood chopping tool here too...but we keep callin it "VESURI" 

And there a bloody useful tool too

[kent ct]

What an interesting thread. It looks like the Bolo sort of has some of the advantages of the Kukri. The Kukri looks dangerous to handle to me. I don't think it is a knife for a novice.

The only billhooks I have seen are on the end of a 3 foot handle for brush clearing. They look very awkward to handle but I have been told they work well.

Richard

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Your right mate, all of the above knives (especially the Kukri) need a great deal of user care as there not to choosy about what they bite into

Having said that, as long as you remember to cut away from you then you'll have no prob's

But when you've sampled the power of a well made Kukri, it's hard not to love them

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Handy guide for big meaty knives

[Sea Monster]

What?

They were irish!





(Get it, potatoes? irish? oh you guys are useless.)

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I'm pretty sure you'd struggle to built a canoe with one of those